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France wants bloc to adopt its policy on immigration
Tougher immigration policies which were launched in President Nicolas Sarkozy's first year in office are working, with more illegal migrants expelled and more skilled workers let in
- Reuters
- Published: 00:08 June 20, 2008
Paris: Tougher immigration policies which were launched in President Nicolas Sarkozy's first year in office are working, with more illegal migrants expelled and more skilled workers let in, France's immigration minister said on Thursday.
France has said harmonising immigration policies at EU level was one of its priorities for its six-month presidency of the bloc that starts on July 1, and the ruling UMP party said the data released yesterday should help it persuade EU partners.
"The UMP would like to see our country's firm and just policies become the policies of the whole of Europe on the occasion of the French presidency," the party said after Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux's statement.
Hortefeux said 14,660 illegal migrants were expelled from France in the first five months of the year, up 80 per cent compared with the same period in 2007.
In the 12 months to May 2008, Sarkozy's first year in office, almost 30,000 illegal migrants were expelled, up 31 per cent year-on-year, Hortefeux said.
Campaign pledge
Tougher immigration policies were a key campaign promise by Sarkozy, who has been criticised for setting Hortefeux annual targets for the number of illegal migrants expelled from the country. Human rights activists say such targets are arbitrary.
This year's expulsions target is 26,000, which Hortefeux said he was confident would be reached.
Another target set by Sarkozy was to increase the proportion of economic migrants, as opposed to those arriving to join relatives, to 50 per cent of new arrivals from 7 per cent now. Hortefeux said he was on course to achieve that goal.
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